What is the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network?

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is a federal bureau whose primary goal is to deter money laundering and punish criminals found culpable of financial crimes. FinCEN is a bureau of the US Department of the Treasury that maintains financial order and combats financial crimes, money laundering, terrorist financing and others. FinCEN comprises of law enforcement agencies, regulatory bodies and financial services community. It is a bureau that operates at the local and international level. FinCEN also mete out punishments to individuals found guilty of financial crimes such as money laundering.

What Does FinCEN Do? 

As part of the duties of FinCEN, it collects and analyzes all financial transactions with the aim of identifying suspects of financial crimes. FinCEN partners with the financial community and law enforcement agencies to track suspects of financial crimes and their activities. The primary goal of FinCEN is to ensure that money laundering is totally curbed in the United States. Through a detailed check and tracking of transactions, complicated transactions are identified and analyzed in order to ensure that money laundering is not taking place. For example, smuggling cash, terrorist financing and other financial crimes are identified and prosecuted accordingly.

How FinCEN Battles Money Laundering

FinCEN is a bureau under the United States Department of the Treasury, the Secretary of Treasury appoints the director of FinCEN whose primary purpose is to combat money laundering and other financial crimes. The director of FinCEN is expected to give reports to the US Treasury through the Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. The Congress empowered FinCEN to collect information and analyze all financial transactions both at the domestic and international level with the purpose of curbing financial crimes. The Currency and Financial Transactions Reporting Act of 1970 which was later amended to the USA PATRIOT ACT of 2001 authorized the regulatory duties of FinCEN. FinCEN has the duty of detecting and deterring financial crimes in the US. This is achieved through the interpretation of financial regulations that are relevant to the issue of money laundering and financial crimes. FinCEN analyzes data, process them and disseminate to appropriate quarters. The data provided by FinCEN are reserved for the purpose of governance. Also, information collated by FinCEN are used in the investigation of financial crimes and prosecution of criminals. FinCEN also make recommendations to the US government on the best practices to fight financial crimes such as money laundering, terrorism financing and others. The information and analysis provided by FinCEN are used by law enforcement agencies and regulatory bodies in the investigation of financial crimes suspects.